II Mirror Maze
by Kyeian
Summary: COMPLETE. I’d tried to help…I even helped a little bit… So now I want to find him…but where the hell do I start? This is a sequel to 'The Great Escape'.
1. Shadow Play

**Shadow Play**

Why did he choose London? London was so _cold_.

I ran my hands up and down my arms as I spotted a digital display for the time of day…and the temperature. First it was Celsius, but Fahrenheit followed…a whole whoppin' sixty-two degrees.

I really _liked_ Brazil.

I moved along the sidewalk, trying not to think about how damn _cold_ I was. I hadn't really been in temperatures below eighty in a couple years, and even putting my hands in my pocket didn't make them feel properly warm. I shifted my phone pieces so my hands went in more, amused at what my irritation had done for me.

When I'd started to leave, Trowa had started calling me every five minute. It was a bit annoying, so I'd turned it off…and then popped the battery out and removed the chip. I'd put the casing back on, but left the battery and chip off. I didn't need their help for this…no. They would be bad. And they couldn't follow a device with no connection.

It had been two years since Duo had run. It'd been two years…almost to the day since he'd claimed sanctuary on United States soil. His birth-colony had been American, just like mine had been Chinese.

Actually, I could do that, couldn't I? I could find a Chinese embassy and claim sanctuary…but that wasn't exactly the most important thing on my mind. It wasn't a problem _I_ had.

I could still remember how absolutely pissed off Heero'd been when the Salvador report came back negative. It had been the latest in responding to his A.P.B., and he'd just _known_ Duo would be there…kinda like I knew he _had_ been there. The Japanese man had directed his search toward North America, assuming Duo would have ran to the home soil he could claim, but Duo wasn't entirely stupid. When he wasn't scared, he was smart.

Maybe he thought about going to the United States…or maybe he'd even _done_ it. It didn't matter, because Heero'd given up search after about three months because he couldn't fund that and his life-style in the middle of nowhere. He'd pulled back and started using purely digital forms of tracking, but Duo's new bank account had an added safeguard that you couldn't trigger unless you knew what it was, and Duo being Duo, it was probably a password with very _bizarre_ associations.

But, really…London?

I moved up the little side street his apartment building was located in, grateful to be nearing that place of rest. I wasn't sure how he'd receive me, but I knew he wouldn't send me away, not immediately.

For my own part, the two years had been spent reigning in the two monsters who really needed some sort of…leash. Heero'd been swamped by a very dark depression when he'd called Hilde to try to get her in on his cause, and had seen Duo leaving her office…or someone he thought to be Duo. It had been a very brief sight of the back of a male's head, and without that braid, there wasn't really anything conspicuous _about_ the gundam pilot.

Hilde had been very confused when he'd told her Duo was lost and he needed help finding him, because Duo had called and talked to her only a matter of hours before this call…and he'd been fine then.

It was my theory that her commenting on the matter so negligently had been what made him so sure about Duo. When he'd asked for Duo's phone number, or some sort of contact, she'd apologized and said it was a matter of national security and she couldn't give out his number anymore than she could give out _our_ number…which was a truth and a lie in one. The "friends" level of dealing with people gave her all sorts of leeway.

Anyway, Heero's depression had caused him to lose weight, and he'd walked around for months looking on the edge of death before Natalie finally won some point in him. He no longer looked gaunt and rail-thin, but his eyes were haunted.

Yes, Heero, you _scared_ your "best friend" away. You'd beat the living _shit_ out of him at least once a month and he'd ran away and managed to _get_ away, and didn't seem to be interested in coming back.

Unfortunately, grief like that led to hatred, and when Heero got into foul moods he plotted all sorts of nasty things to _do_ to Duo if he ever caught up with him again.

Quatre, meanwhile, had slid into a depression when we'd entered the city of Manaus that day, and had stayed that way…to an extent. He really needed some sort of medication to stabilize his moods, he was a tad bipolar with all sorts of manic tendencies. At any rate, my theory on him was that he only felt safe when we were the group of five. That'd been how we'd won the first war, and while during the second one he'd seemed normal enough, he'd fallen in to a severe depression that I assumed had been put off by shock. The depression had deepened, and the issue he'd had when initially wired-up to the Zero system had taken over his mind completely.

So, assuming this was his base issue, heading into Manaus that day had probably triggered the reality that Duo was gone. I wasn't sure if he could understand the full implications of "gone", though. His excessive manic behavior was actually starting to get to Heero…who couldn't see the forest for all the trees.

This ended the narrative with Trowa. Trowa's mental issues had never been so bold as Heero's or so undirected as Quatre's. He'd never put himself in a situation where Heero would look to _him_ as the scapegoat, and he'd stopped caring about anything aside from his next pleasure. He'd retained that lucid side of strategic sense that had become clouded for Heero and random for Quatre.

Really, he worried me. I knew he analyzed everything he saw, and that made me analyze the same things…it made me paranoid, and I didn't need to have an actual schizophrenic mental issue to cloud my dealings.

I lit a cigarette, looking up the length of the tall building Duo was supposed to be living in.

None of us, not even Duo, had told anyone what had been going on those three years before Duo had run. No one breathed a word about any of the little incidents. Duo'd taken my advice and hadn't tried to get Heero out of society. He'd taken his money, and he'd left the Americas entirely.

Why London?

I exhaled, moving to lean against the building's wall. It was early afternoon, and all around was the noise of cars and occasional people…birds. It was a very sedate little area of the city…just damn cold.

I took another drag as someone moved around a corner and blinked at me before bidding me good-day and heading into the apartment building.

"Excuse me," I muttered, moving forward quickly before he could let the door close. "I don't suppose you know if the Maxwell family is home?"

"Duran?" he asked happily, thinking about it. "He should be home about now…or his wife. Their little boy will be home from school any time now. Did you page their apartment?"

"No, I was taking care of something first," I noted, indicating my cigarette.

"Nasty bit of work," he muttered, shaking his head. "You want me to tell them you're down here?"

"No, that'll be fine," I reassured him. "I'll page up here in a bit he's…five-six-nine, right?"

"Yep, that's him all right…you sure you don't want me to tell them you're here?"

I shook my head again, taking another drag. "We had a bit of a…err…disagreement last time I saw him. I'm kinda not sure how he'll receive me."

"Duran's a good man," he reassured me with a grin. He laughed a bit. "You'd know better than me, huh? I'll let you get back to your death certificate…I mean smoke."

I laughed at that, waving my thanks as I moved back to the end of the railing.

Duo was smart when not scared, and his name was a prime example of this. Changing it simply from Duo to Duran kept it similar enough that he could react to it, and not bothering to change his nice and ambiguous last name furthered the illusion. Duran Maxwell was not an uncommon name, really. Every time Heero did a search for Maxwells it came up with loads of people all over the planet and solar-system.

The most amusing part of it to me was the fact that Duo was becoming a common name. It might have been a take off from his childhood, since he had no proper name, but it'd been blared enough across the sphere when the wars had ended, and now on the history channels or investigations, that parents were naming their _children_ after him.

It touched the heart, really.

I rubbed my eye since it was irritated, then took the last drag from my…what had he called it? Death certificate? I'd have to remember that one. I tossed the thing into the gutter, exhaling slowly before looking up the building again.

Two years ago, while Heero, Quatre, and Trowa waited for a return on their bulletin, I'd told them I was going to go wander the city and see if I could find any information on him…and had revisited the people we'd talked to before.

The jovial man that'd claimed to have bought his boat said that he'd given Duo three-hundred dollars when he was talking to me. For some reason that'd slipped his mind when he'd been talking to Heero…and he'd also said he'd remembered what motel he'd set the family up in. A visit there had gotten me the information that they'd left a bunch of clothing to be thrown out…but nothing more. A casual perusal of that computer let me see that he'd looked up the list of American embassies in Brazil before looking up the worth of his money…which would make sense since Heero had worked very hard to keep him from even knowing we were in the _Amazon_.

I'd returned to the airport to find the woman Heero'd interrogated, and she'd asked me in a scared tone if she'd done something wrong, selling the family tickets. I'd reassured her that she had no cause for alarm, that Heero and Duo had been fighting and that was what the entire issue was over. It was petty, but Heero had the unfortunate power to make people obey him. This had bothered her extremely…but she had told me that the woman and boy were natives of the flood-plain, and that they _had_ documents proving they had indeed taken his name. _Legal_ documents.

At that point, I hadn't thought he'd really married her. Like Trowa had suggested, I'd thought the pair had been a cover to keep people from realizing who he was, or singling him out.

She'd also added that they'd bought a ticket for Salvador.

It had been _that_ easy. I'd talked to all of the people like a normal human being, empathized with their worries and soothed their minds, and they'd told me exactly what Duo had done and the time-line he'd done it in…the fat man had even said it'd been the day _before_ we'd gotten there that he'd done it. For some reason he hadn't _told_ Heero.

_That_ easy.

Of course, I'd called the U.S. embassy in Salvador when I'd gotten to a pay phone, and asked them if Maxwell had made it there safely, and if he was all right…if his wife and son were all right. I'd confirmed their supposed marriage by a local village elder in my rambling about being "worried", and in turn they'd told me they were sorry, but there was no Maxwell on the premise.

Hopefully my muttering about their marriage had helped.

I started up the stairs slowly, warily. I hadn't been able to find him initially after he'd made it to the embassy. I'd searched, searched, and double-searched all flight manifests I could without bringing my rank into play. I'd called Salvador motels and begged if they'd seen my friend in varying states of panic…I'd even gone to the city and begged the consulate to give me information.

I had gotten nothing.

Actually, that was really good for so many sources to turn dry.

It'd taken me about a year to wade through the list of Maxwells—and Duos—to figure out that he'd gone to London…but I had no guarantees this was him. This wasn't the first family I'd checked.

Something about it felt _right_ though…something…just clicked.

- -

Duo rose to his feet and moved toward the door to his apartment, bouncing a bit in a semi-dance as he went. He had the day off, and was waiting for Vasu to come home. He'd been wondering if his son or the pizza he'd ordered would get there first, and evidently it was the latter.

He had to stop and double-back for his wallet, and took a moment to lower the volume on the radio—it was one of his favorite songs, too. He bounced over to the door, pulling it open.

"Hello, Mr. Maxwell," the delivery man muttered. "One pepperoni with mushrooms and olives?"

"Only the best," Duo agreed happily, passing the man the bills.

"I coulda sworn your wife made you dinner," the man noted, taking the money and starting to count it.

Duo laughed a bit. The guy lived in the building, so he knew him passingly well.

"Won't she get a bit upset?" the guy teased. "I mean…she's working another fifteen minutes, huh?"

"You stalking me?" Duo demanded, giving him a look.

The guy laughed, offering the change. "I ran into her this morning on the way out."

Duo laughed and made a gesture. "Keep it."

"You're going to get me in trouble," the guy protested, pocketing the bills. "She told me not to let you order."

"I'm worth every penny," Duo reassured him with a knowing nod.

The guy guffawed.

"You ordered _pizza_?" Vasu demanded, darting around the guy with a smile. "Mom is gonna be so maaad at you!"

"Ha! She'll eat it anyway or I'll sleep on the couch!"

"You sleep on it all the time anyway," Vasu noted, tossing his backpack against the back of a chair and taking the food to the kitchen area of the apartment.

The delivery man grinned, raising an eyebrow.

"I do, don't I?" Duo muttered happily, turning to follow, then hesitating. "Hey, do me a favor?"

The delivery guy nodded his curiosity.

"If she hits a high _c_, can you come bail me out? Seriously…claim fire, rape…fire-rape…anything…"

The man started laughing, turning away from the door. "I'll see what I can do…hopefully I don't have my headphones on, huh?"

Duo laughed appreciatively at that as the guy closed the door for him.

"What's fire-rape?" Vasu asked, thinking about it as he opened the box at the counter.

"I dunno…and I don't want to find out, it sounds painful," Duo sauntered toward the boy.

Vasu grinned at him, then tilted his head as he listened. "You have brother, don't you?"

"He's napping," Duo reassured the kid, referring to his and Nassaiya's one year old. "He won't wake up for another half hour…come on, let's at least start to enjoy this before your mother comes home and gets irritated." 


	2. Midnight Echoes

**Midnight Echoes**

It wasn't him.

I sank tiredly onto a cold iron bench, leaning forward to light the cigarette I'd already set in my mouth. I hadn't been able to stay in my motel room after brooding in it all damn night, so I'd gone for a walk.

After _everything_, after looking through every name on that damn list…it hadn't been him.

I inhaled, sitting back and looking to the gray clouds.

I'd thought for sure that Duo would be here. London seemed like the perfect place for him to slip in and hide in the crowd. It had a major sphere government headquarters…and the mix of the population was so vast they wouldn't notice if he still had his little native girlfriend.

But it didn't seem like he did.

The idea of looking up the list of Maxwell single males made me want to gag.

I rubbed at my eyes, studying the cigarette in my hand before tossing it into the gutter and exhaling.

Why did I even bother anymore? Was there any damn point to anything? I'd tried, but Duo'd gotten himself out. He obviously didn't _need_ me. He hadn't left me any clues to follow, so he probably didn't _want_ me…it was just…

I'd been trying to deny that I was stressed out. I didn't have a _reason_ to be stressed out, right? So I wasn't stressed. I'd slept wrong last night, or looking up had thrown something out of alignment…it'd sounded good before, but it had turned into a migraine for me…probably because the cigarette.

My head was pounding, I was _cold_, and I had nowhere to go and no one to go to…except back to Brazil…back to them.

Karma hated me.

- -

"If you eat that, it'll get stuck in your throat and you won't be able to breath," Duo informed Camden calmly as he dropped whatever it was his son had picked up from…wherever…while they were in the café. "And then I'll have to stick my fingers in your throat, which will make you gag, and you'll just not be happy…and it'd probably hurt."

"Dad," Camden protested again—he was feeling vocal.

"I said no," Duo repeated, shifting the boy to his other arm as he started toward Vasu's school and took another drink from his mocha. "I got you a cookie, and that means you don't pick up _crap_ from the floor when I'm not looking at you."

Camden giggled at that.

Duo wasn't sure what he'd said that'd been funny, but he was willing to go with it if it distracted the kid from the crap he'd picked up.

"Now, we're gonna go get brother from school, and then we're gonna get rained on, and we're gonna run our happy-asses to the shops, all right?"

"Right!" Camden agreed with the toothy smile all little kids had—those very _white_ teeth.

"Good boy," Duo muttered in amusement, focusing back on where he was walking. As had become his custom, he glanced unobtrusively at the Chinese man sitting on a bench. He'd felt for a long time that Wufei would show up in his life, even if he'd hidden every trace of himself he possibly could. Like normal, this man was no one he'd seen before, and not someone he'd remember if he saw him again.

It was a little disappointing, actually.

"Drink?" Cam asked, looking to Duo's coffee cup.

"Hahaha," Duo retorted. "Coffee's for big people, not for little boys.

Camden sighed, and started to people watch.

- -

Trowa studied the flight manifest with interest, wondering if Wufei would have used his name or an alias.

Trowa knew that Wufei was looking for Duo, and that he had been since Duo left. Actually, Trowa also knew that Wufei had been trying to help Duo get away before he ran off. He also knew that Wufei had some extensive hacker shit set up on his laptop, but he couldn't get a reading on the damn thing.

He wasn't entirely sure how _advanced_ Wufei's laptop was, because the Chinese man would always be "looking" at porn if he tried to look at the screen…and then the way he smoked.

Trowa had noted that Wufei had a tendency to smoke when hiding something. It worked on a level that he'd blow the smoke in people's faces if they were getting into his personal space, and that probably had been what started it, because most people would move away at that point. At any rate, whenever Wufei was doing something directly opposite Heero's wants or wishes, he'd chain-smoke. It wasn't something anyone else had noted, but Trowa had noticed that when Wufei wasn't _doing_ things, he had about…one smoke a day.

Wufei was challenging, Wufei was interesting…Wufei made Trowa _think_, and compared to the psychopaths they lived with, it was a refreshing change. Probably the only reason Trowa bothered hanging around. Well, that and he had nothing better to do. Of course, figuring out how to get Heero to do exactly what he wanted was amusing, and the way the man _handled_ himself was interesting…but still.

So what was Wufei doing?

Not in the general way. He knew he was out looking for Duo, but had he found Duo? This wasn't the first trip he'd just disappeared on. Where had he gone? What had led him there? Where the hell was the laptop?

That was the key thing. Trowa knew that it was easy to disable a phone, but the laptop was something else entirely. All of their machines had special chips in it that were connected to a network no matter what. No one else could hack into it because no one else knew it existed. It was run through an old satellite the Winner family had launched, that had gone defunct on most levels. It orbited the planet simply because nothing had interfered with it, and that had left an opening for a bunch of hacker-boys to access and use.

The chips were more of Winner funding being used for the family son…before he went insane. They'd all been given laptops with the thing in it, and there was no way to disable the signal. Interference was simple, of course, but disabling was nigh impossible, even if the chip itself was thrown into the water it could be found. Getting it out would basically kill the machine, so unless Wufei had bought himself a new laptop, he would have it with him.

Trowa set the manifest down with a frown. He didn't know what name Wufei would _use_ if not his own. There was always the take on Long, but that would have been obvious, and it hadn't shown up on any sheets he'd used…so what would Wufei have done?

A beeper started on Trowa's laptop and he grinned evilly as he looked to the screen.

Wufei's laptop had been found.

- -

I grumbled irritatedly as I flicked through the information I had stored, looking, re-looking, and looking again at the names. There were some listings for Maxwell that were _not_ him, and plenty of them I'd went to investigate, so I could tell weren't him.

Basically, I had to assume that Duo'd dropped the girl and kid and went off on his own. At that point it'd be easy, even within the military confines, for him to take an _entirely_ new name. That name would be completely _unlinked_ to his old name…and since the old name wasn't a proper name anyway, but an affectation, it wouldn't be hard for him to drop it.

He was a damn chameleon…he always had been.

I smacked the crap laptop I'd bought in aggravation, wishing my own machine wasn't traveling air-mail back to Brazil the long way.

Quatre'd had this ingenious idea before he'd gone nuts to keep us connected. This was pre-abuse, pre-insanity, pre-power for all of us, so we'd taken one of his family's satellites and made it network our five laptops. Actually, it'd probably been an attempt to know we'd never be separated as his fucking mania had condensed inside him past his means to control…which lent credence to my thoughts on him being depressed because we weren't _five_.

At any rate, the bit in each of our laptops that correlated with the satellite couldn't be disabled without ruining the machines entirely, so they'd always be tracked. I'd realized this on my own the first time I'd tried to get Duo out…and that had also been the first time I'd thought of what to do.

I sent my laptop air-mail…places. I had it set up so it'd get back to the Manaus depot about when I planned to be back with a tag on it that lasted a week. If I was longer than a week, it got delivered out to our base with a note in it I'd specially written for them all. Something about 'if you're getting this I'm probably dead…' something like that, rambling a tad and ending with 'FUCK YOU ALL.'

It was probably the most mature thing I'd ever done, but if I were dead or that late I wouldn't really have to deal with the fall-out, so until that point no one had to know I even had an ounce of pettiness in me.

It still made me grin.

I dropped backwards on the mattress, sighing heavily.

At this rate, it _would_ get there first.

It reminded me…the situation…of once when I'd been little and my nanny had taken me to a carnival. The rides had been fun, and the people had been exciting…and the cotton-candy had been _yummy_…and then I'd seen the fun-house with its rotating tunnel exit and moving stairs…we'd gone in…and it'd been a mirror maze.

I'd had nightmares about her standing there gesturing me to catch up with her…but I couldn't _find_ her. She was _always_ just beyond my reach, but I _knew_ she was there…

"Come on, Baobao," she'd called, "right here…"

And then I'd been alone…all I could see was myself reflected in every direction…before she'd showed up again, giving me that impatient look.

This was that damnable maze…and Duo was all around me, encouraging me to find him.

- -

Duo laughed as Nassaiya complained about a woman from her work named Sophie. Sophie thought she was better than everyone, and had the habit of doing the _stupidest_ things around the office that drove the basin-girl _insane_.

Unfortunately, her stupidity often led to Nas cleaning up her messes and saving her ass…which Duo had told her repeatedly to stop doing, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. She knew it was because the way she'd been raised, and the fact that Duo was laughing meant very little to her.

"It took me all of three minutes to do right," Nas added, rolling her eyes. "The woman is intolerable."

"So leave her to her own demise," Duo suggested, moving across the room to wrap his arms around her waist and rest his cheek on top of her head as he studied her in the mirror.

"What are you thinking?" Nas asked, studying his eyes.

"You're beautiful," he supplied, kissing her ear. "You're smart," he kissed her cheek. "You're compassionate…" she kissed him back, turning properly in his arms. "And you're all mine," he noted.

She laughed at that, biting at his lip.

"Mine, mine, mine, mine," he persisted, kissing her each time.

She laughed at him, backing with him toward the bed.

"Mine?" he asked, his eyes sparkling evilly.

"_Yes_, yours," she agreed in exasperation. "All yours all the time."

He laughed delightedly at that, then stopped to meet her eyes.

"What?" she asked, grinning at him.

"You have no idea how _happy_ that makes me."

She gave him a look.

"What?" he protested, pouting cutely at her.

"Shut up and kiss me."

Duo complied. 


	3. Modified Agenda

**Modified Agenda**

Trowa drummed his fingertips on the desktop as he studied his laptop's screen. Something was wrong with the locator on Wufei's machine, which meant there was no point in trying to track it. Wufei had probably figured some little trick out to override it or make it read wrong.

So where _was_ he?

The airport had turned back _nothing_…the car rentals had turned back nothing…but maybe, just…

Trowa focused his search on the helicopter rental places. There were enough people with money that you could rent almost anything for a few hours for a handsome fee. If Wufei had wanted to keep himself from being tracked, he could have done that easily.

"Trowa?" Heero asked from the other room, moving to stand in the door. "What are you doing?"

"Hacking," Trowa replied distantly, studying the information flashing across the screen. "You need something?"

"I'm bored," Heero returned.

"Lonely, huh, dumbass?" Trowa asked sweetly. "Maybe you shouldn't have beat the shit out of Duo, probably would a stayed around longer."

Heero stared at the pilot in disbelief as his stomach churned.

"Get away from me, Heero," Trowa added, glancing briefly at him. "I'm busy."

"Shit, fuck you," Heero muttered, turning to wander off down the hall.

"I'm not the one who needs the company," Trowa retorted.

A door slammed.

Trowa smirked, focusing back on what he was doing.

- -

I sighed as I set my pencil down, looking at my list of London people. I had this feeling that Duo'd just changed his name…this list was ridiculously long, and basically left me at the very beginning…still.

Shouldn't there have been some better way to do this?

I sighed in frustration, looking toward the screen as it showed the Sphere Government gathering for a session. I watched a long moment as it showed the various military heads of the greater Europe area moving toward the building…and it focused on Hilde.

Hilde Schblieker, little miss ideals, little miss greater good…little miss in-contact-with-Duo.

I stared at her in disbelief before rising to my feet. I darted across the room to see if I'd brought my uniform or not, because I took it out of my travel bag occasionally…it was there.

Ha!

I went about changing quickly.

"We have some matters that have been hanging over our heads," Hilde's voice came in response to someone's question. "Its due time we settled a few arguments, so we'll see what we can accomplish before lunch." The reporter mumbled something else and Hilde started laughing happily. "I love pizza, what can I say? I always try to talk them into serving it for lunch…I like the nice greasy messy stuff…and they get us gourmet. Nothing against the gourmet, but…come _on_, what's the point of pizza if it's healthy for you?"

I started laughing as I looked back to the screen again. She was laughing and talking to another reporter at that point, but then someone stepped up and touched her shoulder. She spoke with him briefly, then nodded and turned back to her little circus of people. "I gotta go…I hope you all," she looked to the camera, "have a wonderful day…and do me one favor…smile."

Yes, miss in-charge-of-a-continent.

Hilde'd risen through the ranks like a surfacing whale before settling in a comfortable cruising speed that had her on the surface until she'd come up for air. For some reason she'd gotten beached as the European Sphere Leader. She was in charge of working with the various European nations, and had a very simplistic view to express to the people: smile, laugh, enjoy…and eat pizza.

I had a feeling she got the things delivered to her as gifts every time she made one of her speeches like that.

It would be hard for just about anyone to get in to see her, but like our phone calls, the five of us pilots had instant access to her no matter what…even if we just wanted to shoot the breeze.

I'd done that before…it's really hard to aim…

I smiled more, the idea of seeing the energetic woman already making me feel better.

Sure, my life was hell. Sure, I lived with psychopath control freaks and apathetic bastards…but I was still alive, and the people were still free.

Maybe that's all that I should ask for.

- -

I took a bite of my slice off pizza, studying it with interest as the office door opened, looking up over the thing to meet Hilde's eyes. "What's better? Pizza or sex?"

She stared at me in surprise a moment before her eyes started sparkling. "Both."

"I think that'd get messy."

She laughed more, tossing her formal jacket on top of mine on the small table against the far wall. "I think it could be managed."

"If it were hot, it'd get complicated," I countered, shoving the box at her.

She laughed again, dropping into her chair and selecting her own slice. "You must love me."

"Everyone loves you," I retorted, taking another bite. "I just saw your interview before the session started…you know," I added, tilting my head at her, "the assholes wouldn't let me in."

She stopped chewing, her expression turning concerned.

"They said that pizza boxes weren't allowed in the session…it seemed to offend them…" she started laughing. "I _told_ them it was for you, but they just…they wouldn't concede."

She laughed more, shaking her head at me. "What are you doing here?"

"Duo."

The woman's dark eyes turned upset as she frowned at me, obviously thinking about that.

"Yes, yes, yes," I retorted, making a gesture of dismissal at her. "I know he ran off from us and sought sanctuary from the U.S. embassy in Salvador…but I gave him more than half the money that got him there…and I _found_ him probably three months after he first took off living in some little basin village."

"Wufei…"

"I was trying to get him _out_," I hissed pointedly. "I spent almost three years trying to get him away before he managed it himself…and now that I _want_ to find him, he's gone. I can't find any damn traces of him."

"So you came to me?" she asked skeptically.

"No. I assumed he'd changed his first name, kept his last name, and stayed away from the Americas. London seems like the perfect place for him, but…" I looked down. "I thought I found him day before yesterday…went up to his apartment and knocked…and it was this blond guy who looked…he was _blond_…and when his kid got home, the boy was so _beyond_ not native."

She narrowed her eyes at me. "What were your search perimeters?"

"Married guy with a son?"

That made her snigger.

"What?" I protested.

"I can't tell you, Wufei," she noted, meeting my eyes sadly. "I know where he his, but I can't tell you…its part of his sanctuary. I'm legally bound…I can't tell anyone who _asks_ for him…he tried to put you on the safe list…but you let Heero…I mean…" she looked away.

"You don't know what it's like living with them," I muttered, dropping back in my chair. "You don't know how they are anymore…Quatre's gone damn-insane…and Heero's just behind him."

"So get him evaluated."

"I can't," I retorted. "Heero would insist I was making shit up, and Quatre can _act_ normal…so it'd be down to my word alone."

"What about Trow?" she asked blankly.

"Trowa…" I looked across the room as I considered him. "Trowa…doesn't care," I met her eyes. "He only worries about his next pleasure, and stirs things up when he gets bored."

She sighed, setting her pizza down.

"I can't leave them there," I noted quietly. "Heero hires on the locals to do cleaning and cooking…casual maintenance…and those locals are the basin natives…like Duo's wife…at least, if he's still got her," I sighed. "They don't know what legal processes could be followed…half the time I think Heero's raping the poor servant girl who told him Duo was in her village."

Hilde's eyes snapped onto mine.

"I've told her before that I can get her out if she needs me to…and I told her family that if they suspect she's scared of him…to tell me…but…Duo was with them for five months," I picked at a piece of pepperoni. "And when she told Heero that Duo was there he took troops and swarmed the place over…hit around her mother and brother…and…it was…" I set the pizza down, wiping my hands off with a napkin. "If I leave, there's no intervention, and the people he'll abuse the most will be the people who know the least. They trust me more than they trust the others, but…" I sighed, then grinned as I met her eyes.

"What?"

"Heero's insane, right? Right," I agreed with myself before she could speak. "So he could order a village like this killed off and blame it on anything if it was ever found out…it's the type of thing he'd do, the order, before realizing it could get him in trouble…so I did it for him."

She sat up, her eyes going wide.

I made a gesture at her, picking up the pizza again. "He does the opposite of what I say on the simple level that he won't submit to me. I ordered the villagers killed, the damn song bird of his started freaking out, and he told me we couldn't just _kill_ them…like I would have let it end like that."

That got me a look.

"Listen, Hilde," I muttered, looking up to her. "I just want to find him."

"I can't tell you," she reminded me quietly. "Even if he hadn't told me what had been happening…how he didn't know where he _was_…how he was terrified of Heero…even if he hadn't told me that, the strictures of the law state that the information of his whereabouts cannot be disclosed to the parties causing concern and forcing him to seek sanctuary."

"It wasn't me," I snapped.

"He didn't have your name on the list, but they realized you'd been with him for all three damn years," she cut me off. "Even _he_ tried to insist you weren't a danger, but…three years, Wufei." Her eyes were slightly accusing.

I looked away, shaking my head. "Fine."

"I can tell _him_ you're looking for him, but I can't do more than that," she noted.

"So basically, you're good for nothing," I agreed, rising from her chair and moving to grab my uniform jacket. "Thanks, Hilde, I knew I could count on you."

"Wufei, come on," she protested, moving to follow me. "I told you, I can only do so _much_…"

"Just…go eat your pizza," I ordered, giving her a look as I stormed from the office.

"Don't get pissed at me," she protested, darting to follow me through the halls of the building. She continued trying to persuade me as we went, but I'd just gotten one blow to the face too many and I was returning to my corner before I got blood on the mat and was disqualified.

"Wufei!" she snapped as we neared the stairs to the main entrance. Her tone was slightly different, and when I turned to look at her, her eyes were huge…

A minor cacophony broke out below us.

I turned to the circus of news stations who'd all spotted me and realized who I was…they waited at the bottom of the stairs, looking like it was a strain not to come running up at me as cameras flashed.

Hilde started giggling.

I had to grin at that, realizing I was still holding a half a piece of pizza and she had one with a bite or two out of it…the people were demanding questions of both of us…

Didn't it figure?

- -

Duo stared at the screen as the feed changed from the grinning reporters to _Wufei_ holding a piece of pizza with Hilde a few steps behind him.

"They have pizza!" Vasu declared, starting to laugh at that. "Look, mom! They both have pizza!"

Nas moved to look at the screen herself…and stopped.

"I bet you he bought her the pizza!" Vasu added excitedly as Cam moved around to join the family in looking at the screen. He was holding two blocks in his hands, and hitting them together.

"I bet you he did," Duo agreed in amusement, looking up to see Nas' horrified look. "It's all right," he muttered. "She can't tell him anything anyway…and it _is_ him…"

"You were scared of him," she accused.

Vasu looked at his father with a frown, and Duo wondered how much of that life his son actively remembered. A lot had happened during the two years, aside from his little brother being born, so it was hard to know what he remembered and what he didn't. He'd been going to school since they first arrived in London, and was completely fluent in English…even had the British accent.

Duo hoped he didn't remember the initial leaving, how Duo'd been scared.

"So what are you going to do?" Nas appealed to her husband. "Is he here alone?"

"I have no way of knowing," Duo noted, looking back to the screen as he pulled Cam onto his lap. "I guess we'll just…have to wait and see."

- -

Trowa smirked as he stared at the television screen, wondering if it was some sort of almighty joke.

Wufei was in London.

All his searches, all his questions…even going to Manaus and asking around about the Chinese man had turned up nothing. The laptop's tracker wasn't working, there was no way to really _find_ him…and he goes and gets himself caught on film in London, talking to Hilde Schbleiker.

"Hey, Heero?" Trowa called, moving to the hall.

"What?" Heero demanded.

"Pack your bags, we're going to London."

"What?" Heero demanded, moving to look down the hall at him.

"We're going to London," Trowa repeated. "Where's psycho-boy?"

"I don't know," Heero retorted. "Why would I know?"

"I thought you knew where we all were all the time," Trowa noted. Sometimes when Heero was ranting, he'd make statements that were amusing to repeat.

Heero gave him a look, turning away.

"Quatre!" Trowa called, moving down the hall to the far end of the builing—once upon a time, Duo and Heero had shared a suite at that side of the building, but Heero'd gotten too lonely to be like that. He'd moved to the other wing, and abandoned the other side. "Quatre, where are you?"

"I'm not home," Quatre's voice came from that room. "I'm not here anymore."

"You haven't been here in years," Trowa noted, moving into the suite and looking around…to focus on Duo's old room. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing," Quatre noted, looking out the window. "I'm not doing nothing."

"No, you're not," Trowa muttered in amusement. "Want to go find Duo?"

Quatre focused on him sharply.

"Come on," Trowa suggested, gesturing toward the hall. "We need to pack clothes for a few days."

"Okay!" Quatre darted past him, running toward the main of the living area.

Heero gave Trowa a confused look. "How'd you get him to do it so fast?"

Trowa shrugged at him. "Don't look at me, he's _your_ psycho."

--

E/N: What's a girl gotta do to get some reviews? Hehe, thanks Kirihana...and hey, his braid _needed_ to go, it made him too obvious! hehe.


	4. Perpetual Reminders

**Perpetual Reminders**

"Baobao, keep ahold of my hand…"

I gripped Leixiang's hand tightly.

"Baobao, don't let go of me…"

The act of rolling over in my sleep brought me into awareness so I blinked across my empty hotel room, then sighed.

There was something _beyond_ depressing about knowing I had no home to go back to. Not that any of us really did. Quatre was the only one, and it still wasn't quite a _proper_ home.

…I'd been raised normal.

Okay, a warrior in a warrior clan, but I'd had a proper family and education before I started in on mobile suits. Shit, I'd been _married_…even if that had gone horribly wrong.

That'd be fun, wouldn't it? I could just imagine some little girlfriend staring at the paperwork for getting a marriage license thing, and demanding what I meant, this was my second marriage.

"_Oh, I'm sorry? Didn't I tell you? My first wife **died** because Treize Kushrenada was an undying bastard…its okay, though. That life may as well have been a dream, because there's none of it left._"

Wow, I was depressed.

The moments like this, when I could analyze why I did things without interrupting myself were always the worst. It was like denying I was stressed when I could feel the tension all through my shoulders.

If I could _find_ Duo, I could live with _him_, right?

Right.

I rolled onto my other side as I followed my own logic. I was more like Quatre than the others. We were safe as five…we were a family as five…but we had an abusive father and an alcoholic mother…or something. It wasn't really all that like Quatre. I felt safety in numbers, and was alone with the other three, and had been alone when it had been all four. Now Duo was out from under Heero and could possibly be someone _with_ me. I was really no better than Heero. I'd been sunk in my own depression since I'd first realized that Heero'd lost his mind.

Trowa'd been apathetic since the beginning. He'd fought in the second war because it was expected of him.

Actually, he probably still resented me for that Marimea shit.

Fuck, they could all go insane, but I try to find the truth and I'm the evil bastard?

Fuck Trowa.

What I still didn't understand was why we didn't have someone looking out for us, why we hadn't had psychological counseling. They'd started it after the first war, before Marimea had cropped up. We'd all started going through it, but then it'd nose-dived and we'd saved the world again.

I shouldn't have to fight anymore…

I sat up and moved to the window, staring down at the city streets below my room.

I'd destroyed Nataku. I'd resigned my active duty….and I'd gotten bitch-slapped by…karma.

I didn't begrudge Hilde her strictures…her rules that she had to follow. Shit, I didn't even mind Duo disappearing…but couldn't I just…be with him?

He had a kid.

I focused on my own reflection as the realization struck me, amazed. That _had_ to be it! He must have _stayed_ with the native woman…maybe he'd actually _married_ her in those two months after I'd found him…it didn't mat…was that why he'd ran like he had? Had she been pregnant?

Fuck, Heero would have a complete and total meltdown if he'd gotten her pregnant like that…

I turned toward my laptop, booting it up as I ripped the note-page off of my note-book and grinned slightly. Hilde'd been letting me know, because she wasn't entirely against _me_ finding Duo…he'd try to keep me on his safe-list. Her sniggering had made me assume he'd left the native girl initially…but…even the way she'd _asked_ what I was searching for suggested…

He had a kid.

I stared at the screen as the colors burst to life, feeling something like pride, or maybe just happiness…

Duo had a _real_ life.

Maybe he wasn't in London…maybe he was in the colonies, even, but…

I expanded the search perimeters to two children, biting at my thumb.

Going to see Hilde was probably the best thing I could have done.

- -

"So he was all upset," Hilde muttered from where she was standing in Duo's office. "He wanted to find you…he looks a bit worse for wear."

"How did I look when you first saw me?" Duo retorted, giving her a look before grinning. "Not so bad, huh?"

"Not really, no," she agreed in amusement.

Duo smiled, looking toward the office window. "I miss the rain."

"It rains here all the time, Duo…"

"No, the monsoon rains," he argued, meeting her eyes again. "The kind that raises the river and sends man to live in the trees…the kind that means you step outside and you're soaking wet, even when it's thirty degrees out…" his eyes went distant as he remembered the sound. "I don't even know what he was doing all day long," he noted, thinking of Heero leaving early every day, showing up around lunch, then disappearing until supper. "I had hours…every day…and I didn't _do_ anything…just listened to the rain."

"I don't understand," she muttered, moving to sit next to him on the desktop. "Why did you stay?"

He studied the floor a long moment in silence before shrugging. "I had nowhere else to be, and it seemed like no one cared about me…but then he wouldn't even let me sleep around…he never…" Duo shook his head. "He would always bitch at me…and I went to run off…and he caught me."

"Why didn't you just _leave_?" she demanded, the conversation with Wufei bothering her on some level. "Why did you _run_?"

"Because I couldn't just _leave_," he retorted, meeting her eyes. "After the first time I'd try to run, he started to beat the shit out of me…and no one did anything to stop him. I was scared…confused…disbelieving, really…and every time I tried to leave for a while…" he trailed off, thinking to the times Heero'd come storming down the hall.

"We were in China still…and I kept trying to _go_, and then one night he was acting weird, gave me something to drink…it made me feel sick…"

"He kidnapped you?"

Duo met her eyes, sighing heavily. "I didn't know we were in the Amazon for a reason, Hilde," he reminded her. "I woke up in an entirely new room, a new building... The first year, the flood terrified me out of trying to run…initially, when the water started building up…and then it rose however many feet…next time I tried, I got caught _in_ the flood…and I could never get more than twenty miles from the base before they'd catch up to me…and Quatre was a sadistic bastard to me all the time…Trowa didn't care, and Wufei…" he sighed.

"What? What did Wufei do?"

"Brought me food when Heero was pissed," he noted, looking toward the window again. "They'd hear it all over the base…when he'd be hitting me…at least some of them. He'd come in and make sure I was all right…in retrospect, he distracted them from finding me as long as he could manage…"

"Why didn't he just take you and _leave_?"

'_Because he wanted me to do it myself,_' didn't seem like the proper thing to say, and Duo wasn't really sure if that was _why_ Wufei hadn't just done that. Actually, Duo wasn't sure **_why_** most things had happened the way they _had_.

Hilde looked down and shrugged at him. "I don't know where Wufei is staying," she noted. "I don't know if he's left, or if he's still around. I can't tell him where you are, or what you go by now…and I don't know what to tell you."

"I'll figure something out," he reassured her. "I don't know if I _really_ want him to find me. What he doesn't know, the others can't drag out of him."

"He said Quatre's flipped it," she remembered.

"He never _had_ it," Duo retorted dryly, then made a gesture toward the office door. "I have paperwork to get done."

Hilde gave him a look and nodded, pushing away from the desk. "I did what I told him I'd do."

"Good girl," Duo noted.

"Haha," she grumbled. "I'm in charge of the _military_, paper-pusher."

"I saved the _world_, figurehead."

She giggled at that, flipping him off, then headed out the door.

- -

"Where is he?" Quatre asked eagerly, looking to Trowa.

"I don't know, we have to find him," Trowa retorted. "That's why we came."

"He would choose a central location," Heero noted, looking the city streets over. "For whatever he's doing."

"So we have to figure out what he's doing," Trowa agreed.

"Can we hurry?" Quatre asked, looking around. "And we need to find Wufei."

Heero rolled his eyes slightly.

Trowa grinned and gestured toward a taxi. "It's cold here. Let's find a hotel."

"Ooh, Heero!" Quatre muttered, eyes landing on a candy dispenser.

Heero sighed and passed Quatre a coin. The blond bounced across the distance to kneel next to the thing and put the coin in, his head moving in small circles as he watched the gumball spiral down the long chute.

"I wish I were so easily entertained," Trowa muttered.

"You and me both," Heero agreed. "Quatre? Come on…"

Quatre took his candy and moved to follow them as he picked at it interestedly. "Why don't we have the location of his laptop?"

"I don't know, I can't get a feed on it," Trowa retorted.

"I bet you he did something else with it…I bet he doesn't have it with him."

Heero watched the shell crumbling off the candy and wondered at the lucid thought accompanying it.

"He has all sorts of accounts," Quatre added, looking up to them. "All over, like spiders."

…and there was the end of the lucidity.

"Spiders bite," Trowa informed the blond helpfully.

Quatre shuddered, moving quickly to stand in the supposed safety of Trowa's personal space.

"We're bigger than spiders," Heero reminded the blond before he could have a freak-out. "We can squish them…"

"Unless they're the real _big_ ones," Trowa agreed, indicating an exaggerated size of a tarantula.

Heero gave him a look.

Trowa grinned at the other pilot, running his tongue along his teeth. "They bite hard."

"Let's go," Heero muttered, shoving Quatre ahead.

Sometimes, he wondered why Trowa couldn't keep his damn mouth _shut_. 


	5. Tempting Fate

**Tempting Fate**

I studied the entryway to a cute café with interest a moment before deciding that I wanted coffee. I'd been busy since I'd woken up at four-thirty, and it was now going on two. I didn't have anything solid to follow, but it was no worse than initially searching for Duo. Maybe this would take me another year, huh?

"I want a…grande caramel macchiato," I muttered, noticing the foods case. "And a bagel with cream-cheese."

"That'll be ten-fifty," she informed me cheerily, taking my money and giving me my change before turning and bouncing away.

She was cute.

I tossed a couple bills into the tip jar, turning to look the place over. It was the kind of place I could see Duo frequenting, ordering his drink and a cookie before turning loudly to sit at one of the small round tables and regaling his new listeners with some sort of corny joke or painful anecdote. It was the kind of thing he did before Heero'd worn him down.

Granted, Heero probably didn't _know_ better. On a superficial level he could probably be as human as the next guy, but he'd been raised as a weapon, and the only things he knew were discipline and reprimand. It didn't give him an excuse, but it sort of explained it.

"Here's your bagel," the woman informed me, passing me a small plate. "Your drink will be ready in just a moment."

"Thanks," I muttered, taking it and setting my bag under the table, starting to spread the cream cheese.

And if Duo wasn't feeling mouthy, he'd take his cookie and start picking at it. I couldn't really remember him ever _eating_ cookies. I had a feeling that growing up the way he had…in the orphanage, had kept him from getting most childish pleasures…so since he could afford it, he'd get it, but didn't really want it because that kind of thing was way _too_ sweet for someone who hardly ate _any_ sweets.

A box of cookies would sneak into Leixiang's bag if she made it to the kitchen before our daily outings…not always, but sometimes. We'd pass a fruit stand and she'd pick out whatever it was for me and explain to me how I could get the best one if I only took a moment to pay attention to it…if I saw something in a store that I really wanted, even if it took her three or four paychecks, she'd buy it for me as long as I hadn't tried to beg for it. She'd spoiled me without spoiling me, and as I'd gotten older, I took her attentions to heart. My true mother loved me, of course, and my father, but that was more of a…great grandson sort of love. They could pay me all _sorts_ of attention when they weren't busy, but Leixiang would do that for me without an effort on my part.

It was really too bad they'd gotten rid of her the year before my wedding. Maybe if she'd stayed around I wouldn't have been such an asshole about the marriage. It had been the marriage's fault, initially, and that meant Meilan's fault.

If they'd just let me _keep_ her I would have coped with _everything_ ten times better.

"Here you go," the woman muttered with a bright smile as she set an insulated cup beside me. "Have a nice day."

"You, too," I muttered, passing her the plate, knife, and dish of cream cheese. I had the bagel in hand as I headed for the door.

The faster I got back to the motel, the faster I could install the program I'd picked up and get back to work.

- -

Duo moved into the café, trying to get Camden to walk instead of stopping…probably to pee, or something, actually.

The waitress looked up to him with a bagel plate in hand and smiled at him. "Hey, you."

"Hello," Duo returned happily. "I'll pay as soon as I can get my sloth through the door."

She laughed, moving behind the counter.

"Okay, _fine_," Duo muttered, scooping the boy up. Yep, peed. He rolled his eyes, giving the kid a look as the boy smiled at him sweetly. "I can't wait until we potty train you," he noted.

Camden giggled. "I wanna cookie," he noted. The words were almost comprehensible.

"I have to change your diaper first," Duo noted, waving at the girl behind the counter and stopping to look down at a bag under a table. "Hey, Sammy? Someone left their bag here."

The girl looked to it and frowned, moving around to pick it up and look inside. "A computer program. They'll be back for that."

"And how," he noted. "I'll be out in a few."

- -

I darted back into the coffee shop, looking to the table I'd been at with wide eyes.

"Oh!" the woman muttered happily. "There you are! Here you go!" she raised my package from behind the counter.

"_Thank_ you," I muttered, moving to take it from her with a relieved sigh. I could hear a little kid protesting something from the bathroom, and shook my head slightly as I resituated my things.

"One of my regulars pointed it out to me," she noted, setting a cup and a napkin with two cookies on the counter. "I wouldn't have seen it."

"Tell them I said thanks," I muttered, turning toward the door again. "I appreciate it."

"No problem," she reassured me with another smile.

I moved back out the doors, spotting some benches. The panic of realizing I was brilliant enough to _leave_ the bag behind had taken pretty much my last burst of pre-exhausted effort. I'd known I was tired, and really, adrenaline could only take a person so far before it let out on them.

I dropped into the thing, rubbing at my eyes. I had a brief thought to light a cigarette, but it wasn't more than a thought. Actually, I needed to stop smoking…

I set the package on my lap and used it for a little table to set my cup on, focusing on the bagel. I hadn't realized how hungry I was until I'd started eating.

Maybe I could take a bus back to the hotel.

"…and your brother is going to want a cookie."

I froze completely as a small child goobered something in reply.

"So I got two cookies, one for you and one for him."

I turned my head in complete disbelief…to meet eyes with Duo.

He stopped to stare at me in return.

…no fucking _way_…

"Hey, you," he muttered with a grin. "Come on. I have to get my son."

"Du…"

"…gan," he noted pointedly with a grin. He moved closer to me. "Du_gan_."

I grinned at him, moving to stand up and realizing I was about to drop everything.

"Come on," Duo persisted. "I have to get my boy," he started moving up the sidewalk watching me expectantly.

I gathered my cup, bag, and bagel up quickly, darting to follow after him.

That just wasn't right.

- -

"So he _is_ staying here!" Trowa shook his head, rolling his eyes as the woman at the desk smiled sweetly at him. "He's such a doofus sometimes. He got the larger room, right?"

"No, his is a single," she returned, looking at the screen before frowning and looking up at him. "Do you think he forgot?"

"Forgot we were meeting up in London?" Trowa asked, rolling his eyes. "No…he probably just forgot to tell us he wanted his own room. Were you working when he checked in?"

She thought a moment. "When was that?"

"Sunday or Monday," he returned, thinking back. He realized he should have looked at the flights to London from Manaus to see if he could match up an alias, but it was too late to do that for now. He could do it later from his computer.

"No, I wasn't working," she refused.

"Maybe there wasn't a larger room available?" Tro hazarded.

"Maybe," she considered her screen. "I know it doesn't seem like it, but we're usually fairly full…it's not as rabid in October, but it can get pretty bad."

He nodded. "I bet that was it…are there any rooms for two or more available now?"

She clicked through a few screens and shrugged. "There's one with two beds…sleeps five max. Will that do?"

"That would be wonderful," Trowa agreed smiling happily at her. "And soon. We were in Brazil."

"Isn't jet-lag the worst?" she agreed with that. "Name?"

The process of checking into the room took minutes as Heero and Quatre waited in the little sitting area. Quatre was asking Heero questions on general arachnid activities as he stared across the room.

No one who heard him talking would have _thought_ he was capable of inane commentary.

Actually, Heero himself wondered how much of it was genuine. He knew that Quatre had issues, but most of the time they had normal conversations…like this about spiders. Quatre was asking what Heero knew, and understanding what he explained. It was a mature conversation on a mature level about a single topic. It didn't have the random exclamations, or unconnected seeming backgrounds to make it odd. In all reality, the Japanese man wondered how much of the randomness was Quatre attempting to divert his own boredom.

He didn't figure he'd find out any time soon.

"Come on, guys," Trowa muttered. "Let's go up and get some sleep."

- -

I grinned slightly at Duo's comment as we moved into the hotel lobby.

"Mr. Chang!" the woman behind the counter exclaimed. "Mr. Chang! Your friends have arrived."

I wasn't the only one who stopped in my tracks to look at her.

"They showed up about an hour ago," she added, moving around so we weren't talking across the room. "They have room four twenty-six."

My heart started thudding in my chest.

"Friends?" Duo asked.

"Three guys," she agreed with a smile. "Winner, Yuy, and Trowa."

Duo stepped away backwards, his chest starting to heave as he looked to me in disbelief.

"What the hell…why are _they_ here?" I demanded, looking to Duo again.

"I took you to my _home_," Duo hissed at me, his eyes bright with fear and anger. "I let you hold my _son_."

"I didn't _do_ it!" I protested, turning to move at him. "I wouldn't…Du…Dugan…"

He shook his head at me, looking me over with the type of expression that suggested he should have known better.

"Trowa was following me," I protested, running after him. "They can't know anything. This," I indicated the bag with the program in it as I realized I really needed to return it and stash the new laptop. "I was trying to find you without anyone knowing!"

"Should I not have told them you were here?" the woman asked, frowning.

"No, you shouldn't have," I snapped back, then followed Duo out of the building. "Shit, Duo…I didn't _do_ it…you _know_…"

"He's _here_," Duo hissed, looking toward the building with his eyes.

"I know…you do need to go," I agreed, grabbing his arm. "Don't think I did this on purpose…please. I really…I don't want to _live_ with them anymore."

He nodded at me, swallowing as he backed away more. "Wipe the cameras. If not, they'll have the make of my car and I can't buy a new one right now. If I tell anyone you're _all_ here they'll shuffle me and we'll have to start all over again."

I nodded, stepping toward the building, then hesitated, looking down. "Return this!" I exclaimed, extending the bag to him. "If they see it they'll know what I was doing…I can wing it if they don't find proof."

He nodded, taking it from me as I tossed a receipt at him with a shaking hand.

"We can figure this out," I added, not sure if I was trying convince him or myself. "I can get them out of here."

He nodded again, then turned and ran back toward his car.

"I'll give Hilde a message next time I get the chance," I added. "When I figure this out."

"I'm leaving," he retorted, moving to slide into his car. "There's no way I'm going _back_ to that."

"I know…I'm sorry," I added. "If I hadn't gotten caught…Duo…"

He nodded once at me and peeled from the parking lot.

I wiped my hands on my jeans, taking a breath and pulling out a cigarette.

They were _here_…and I'd almost brought him right _to_ them.

I had to be karma's bitch.

"You look a little riled," Trowa's amused voice noted as the doors to the building slid open. "Everything okay, Wufei?"

"What the fuck you doing here?" I returned, inhaling as I looked to him. "I was trying to get away from you."

He smiled a disgustingly knowing smile at me. "Sure you were."

He had _no_ idea.

- -

E/N: Hehe, thanks for the reviews, guys, I'm glad to know the story is well recieved. I don't get your paperboy reference, Meryln, it'd be cool if you could explain that. Mm...but yes, I appreciate the reviews.


	6. Delusory Pursuit

**Delusory Pursuit**

There was something about _watching_ Wufei walk into the hotel **_with_** Duo that made Trowa want to laugh again. When the pair had walked into the lobby, he'd been waiting on the second level for the Chinese pilot to return, and hadn't expected him to bring Duo.

In the end, though, his conclusion was, aside from suddenly looking like a deer in the headlights, that Duo didn't look too bad. He looked generally healthy, not out of shape…and his hair was cut short enough that he could spike it easily, or wear it flat. He'd always had a vain streak about that, and keeping it short probably had the added bonus of being easy to maintain while keeping him from being overly noticed. Duo had loved his long hair, though, and Trowa was half expecting him to have another braid. Actually, if he hadn't seen the cut off end himself in that hut in Natalie's village, he wouldn't have believed Duo _would_ have cut it off.

He'd sort of wanted to catch Duo outside and see how terrified the guy would _get_, but he'd taken too long to get to and down the stairs…and out the door as it were. It was fine, though, because Wufei would realize that if he were getting out the doors at that point, then he'd probably seen who Wufei'd gone out with.

Trowa wasn't sure if he wanted to announce to Heero that Duo was found or not, though. Heero was seriously messed up, and had as yet to understand that Quatre repeatedly saying _him_ and adding in that they needed to find Wufei probably meant more than his ramblings. He usually had a _level_ of consistency to what was coming out his mouth, even if what was going on in his head didn't make sense.

Of course, now that Wufei had stormed into his own room and slammed the door, it left Trowa with nothing to really _do_…until he saw the spider. He watched the thing, about to squish it, then heard Quatre's voice as he talked to Heero in their room.

The man smirked, picking the spider up by a few legs, moving back into the room.

"Hey, Tro, what's up?" Heero muttered, looking up from the newspaper he'd been reading.

"Not much," Trowa muttered, moving toward Quatre, who was sitting at the table under the window.

"What is that?" Heero demanded, focusing on the man's hand and starting to rise as the small shape made sense. "Trowa…"

Trowa stopped as the blond looked to him with interest…and tossed the spider onto the table in front of the nut.

Quatre gasped and jumped back at the same time, a look of almost terror entering his eyes as he reached around and grabbed Trowa's shirt. It was obvious that he couldn't find his voice as the thing crawled quickly _toward_ them and the assumed safety of the edge of the table.

Heero crossed the room and slammed his fist down onto the creature before it could actually make the blond freak out. He met the Quatre's eyes, tilting his head slightly to indicate his action. "Squish it," he displayed the mess on the side of his hand.

Quatre swallowed, looking to Heero's eyes uncertainly.

Heero looked to Trowa, glowering at him as the other man just smiled. The whole thing where Trowa would purposefully _scare_ Quatre with ideas and then **_bring_** a spider into the room was beyond the Japanese male. He couldn't understand it at all…and adding into it that self-satisfied smirk just added to the confusion and anger. Heero straightened and wiped his hand on Trowa's shirt as he shoved the man backwards a few steps, then started back for his newspaper.

"I found him," Trowa noted, studying the smudge with interest.

"Really?" Quatre's eyes widened slightly and he was obviously about to jump to his feet.

"Wufei?" Heero asked somewhat pointedly. "Where is he?"

"His room," Trowa explained.

"Not Duo?" Quatre sounded disheartened.

"We're not _looking_ for Duo, Quatre," Heero snapped irritably. "We came for Wufei."

"No we didn't," Quatre muttered, frowning at him blankly.

Heero gave him a look and sighed, rising to his feet. "He's in his room?"

"Yeah, he's grumpy, though."

"When _isn't_ Wufei grumpy?" Heero asked blankly, heading for the door. "Stay with Trowa, Quatre. I'll be back in a while." He left the room.

Quatre watched him leave, then looked back to Trowa in confusion.

"Don't worry," Trowa reassured the blond. "He's here somewhere," he nodded the same sort of confidential nod one would give a child and moved into the bathroom.

Quatre smiled again, turning back to his notepad…and started to sketch.

- -

"Tell him that I'm not getting very far," I added to Hilde. I'd had to chase her all over the government compound, but had finally gotten her in an anteroom where she was supposed to be going over a speech. "I'll figure it out, but it might take a while…and I'll let you know."

"If you find him you better _not_ tell me," she snapped back irritably. Her expression was extremely annoyed.

"Okay, fine," I rolled my eyes. "Just tell him what I said, all right?"

"Fine…Wufei, I'm busy," she shifted the papers in her hand.

I gave her a look and shook my head. She didn't even tell me she'd see me later as I moved from the little room, and that was annoying enough without walking down about three halls and running into the three people I wanted to see _least_ in the world.

"Come on," Trowa muttered, grabbing at me. "We don't want to miss the speech. Who knows who'll be in there, huh?"

"Duo?" Quatre asked eagerly, looking to me.

Holy shit…

I tsked at them. "What the hell would Duo be doing in London?"

"He's been on this kick since we left the base," Heero muttered. "He thinks Duo's here somewhere."

Had he looked at my laptop? Or had this been Trowa's doing?

The four of us moved toward the main room where people were filing in. I couldn't break away from the lot now, and didn't have anywhere to go anyway.

I knew where Duo _lived_…the search part was over.

Wading through the bureaucrats and assorted notables left much to be desired, but it was another instance of obligation.

I was obliged to deal with people I detested, obliged to serve the planet in times of war, obliged to pretend I gave a shit about what anyone else was doing when all I wanted to do was sit down with a buddy, drink a beer, and watch a damn football game.

_Why_ did karma hate me?

Maybe I'd been a thief or something in a past life…or I'd raped some notable daughter…it had to be something stupid and petty to warrant _this_ bullshit. I would have thought that fighting for a cause would have cleared me of my past misdemeanors, but hell, I wasn't some cosmic being…

"Heero."

We all looked to the not-so-pleased voice of _Relena?_? She was responding to _Heero_ like **_that_**?

"Relena!" he returned, pleased, then probably realized her tone of voice because he receded slightly and looked down. "Miss Peacecraft."

"Hello, Quatre, Trowa, Wufei," she muttered, moving closer to us. "Sit with me?"

"Of course," I returned, moving to follow her.

Heero hesitated behind us, then moved to join us. He hadn't been specifically invited, but it would be assumed that he'd sit near the rest of our group.

"Why are you guys here?" she asked politely, glancing over her shoulder at us. "Last I heard you were all so deeply entrenched in Brazil that you were setting down roots."

"Not all of us," I noted, studying her face. "I still wander off fairly frequently."

"You should move here," she informed me pointedly. This was not a suggestion for the rest.

Did she realize what had happened before? Was that what this was? Did she have some sort of contact with Duo? Or did she talk to Hilde?

"I'm thinking about it."

"No, Wufei," Quatre moved closer to my side. "You can't leave, too."

"There's nothing for me in Brazil," I noted, meeting his eyes.

"What about me?" he asked quietly.

"Not now," I ordered gently, refocusing. "How are you?"

"I'm all right," she returned easily as Quatre receded. "I've been keeping busy."

I nodded encouragement as she sat, sitting next to her. Quatre sat beside me, and Trowa beside him. Heero hesitated a moment, his expression back to that depression that he'd been in as he dropped down unceremoniously into his seat.

It was probably a good thing that he was as closed and internal as that, because I could see Duo on the upper level on the far left. It was a group that seemed to be made of Hilde's closest advisors—so maybe it _had_ been Duo leaving the office when Heero's first call to Hilde had gone through.

At any rate, Quatre was made nervous by the crowd of people in suits, so he wasn't making eye contact, and Heero was staring at the bench in front of him.

Relena started telling us about what she was doing as the room gradually grew fuller, and I pretended that I gave a shit more to keep Trowa's attention than anything else. I had a feeling he might have _seen_ Duo in the hotel, but he would never admit that to me, and evidently he hadn't said anything to Heero.

"Relena?" Heero asked when the pair of us had fallen quiet.

"Yes?" she returned.

"Are you mad at me?" he asked, frowning as he studied her.

Relena looked his face over with a cold expression. "I've talked to Duo," she informed him calmly. "He told me about living in Brazil."

Heero blinked at her.

"He also told me about _leaving_ Brazil."

He started to pull himself up.

"And I will say that I'm quite disgusted to talk to you."

That ended that right there. The way the woman said _disgusted_…it was a very precise pronunciation.

"What the fuck for?" Heero snapped, his hurt feelings turning to anger. "What did _I_ do?"

"If you ever see Duo again," she noted, meeting his eyes again, "which I doubt, you might get him to show you his back. I dare say there are some scars present that would go completely unaccounted for if the personal level of conversation were not present."

"Tell me where he is and I'll ask him," Heero retorted pointedly.

Relena gave him a completely facetious smile, then focused very pointedly on the podium.

I had a very distinct feeling that she'd just made things _worse_.

- -

"And until he realizes that he was in the wrong, there's no point arguing with him about it," Hilde muttered to Relena. "You can tell him until you're blue in the face, but that doesn't mean he realizes that it's morally retarded and socially offensive."

"Morally retarded," Relena repeated disgustedly, tossing a cherry pit into a bowl. "Spare me, Hilde. There's no way the man can not understand that _beating_ someone is wrong."

"I don't want to stand up for him or say he's without blame," Hilde muttered, "but he wasn't raised right. All the psycho evaluations done on him say that his emotional state is akin to an eight year old's."

"Only he has the muscle to make it dangerous," Duo agreed, moving into the room. He felt tired..._beyond_ tired. He hadn't slept the night before, and _seeing_ Heero at the council was **_far_** from reassuring.

"Wufei wanted me to tell you that he's not making any progress," Hilde noted. "He said he'd figure it out, and he'd let me know. I told him he was stupid, because if I know he's actually close to finding you I have to move you, but he wanted me to tell you all the same."

"Thanks," Duo muttered with a sigh. They were in a lounge that had closed down, sitting at the bar. "I'm shocked they didn't see me."

"Wufei might have," Relena noted, not looking at the woman as she put another cherry in her mouth.

"I can't believe he's here," Duo added, draping himself over the bar-top.

"I can't believe the authorities haven't scrambled to get you out," Relena muttered, selecting another small treat from a small wooden bowl in front of her.

"My boy is in _school_," Duo retorted. "I can't just pick him up and drag him off because of shadows."

"Heero said very specifically to me that if I'd tell him where you were, he'd have a talk with you, Duo," Relena retorted. "That's more than a shadow."

Hilde plucked a cherry from the stem with a frown. "I have to do it, Duo…I have to move you."

"No, you don't," he retorted.

"They could be waiting in the hall as we _speak_," Hilde snapped, gesturing. "They've proven they can show up out of nowhere."

"You're not moving me," Duo argued. "School is in full swing, and it would be _cruel_ to yank Vasu out and go to…where was it? What was the next place on the list? _Scotland_?"

"Duo…"

"No, I'm not doing it," he snapped back. "You're not the American consulate, you can't order it, and if either of you _try_ to I'll end the sanctuary."

"But then they could find you," Relena protested.

"I'm not just picking Vasu up and moving when Wufei can still get them _out_ of here…"

"What do you mean by that?" Hilde asked dryly.

"I mean that Wufei always tried to help, and he won't want _them_ to find me…"

"Don't you mean Heero?" Hilde asked darkly. "You never say his name, you know."

"It's taboo," Duo retorted snidely, taking a cherry himself as he leaned backwards against the bar and glared at the far wall. "Stop listening, Hilde," he added, then looked to Relena. "I ran into Wufei on the way to pick Vasu up yesterday," he informed the woman. "He came over to my house and talked to Nas, and Cam likes him…we were going to get his things from the hotel when the chick on duty told us that the other three had signed in. I was _this_ close to meeting him eye to eye," he measured an inch in front of himself with one hand before plucking the stem off his cherry. "I just…Wufei's going to try to get them out of here. I don't think the others realize he's found me, but he knows where I am now and wants to move here with me."

"Quite the relationship," Hilde grumbled darkly. "You have the boyfriend with the spouse on the side, huh?"

Duo snorted at that, grinning slightly.

"You're not gay, are you?" Relena asked, then thought with a tilt of her head. "No…it'd be bi…Cam is your biological son."

Duo sniggered at that, rolling his eyes. "And I'm not either…neither is Wufei."

"You sure about that?" Hilde demanded.

"I'm not _talking_ to you about Wufei, Hilde," Duo informed her. "I was talking to Relena about him."

Hilde grinned slightly before glowering.

"Just give him a chance, please," Duo muttered. "I don't want to have to yank my poor boy out of school when he's _just_ starting to fit in."

"Forty-eight hours, Duo. If they aren't on plane out of here by," she looked to her watch, "three pm on Sunday, I'm scrambling your safety. You have until two-fifty-nine on October tenth to put your affairs in order. That's official."

Duo sighed, looking away from her before nodding. "All right…all right…I'll…can you warn Wufei? I don't dare go near him."

"No, I _can't_," she snapped.

"I'm going to dinner with him tonight," Relena noted, eating another cherry.

"Relena," Hilde warned.

"What?" Relena looked to Hilde curiously. "I'm just letting you know that I'm going to supper with Chang Wufei."

Hilde gave her a look.

Relena shrugged at her innocently, then met Duo's eyes. "Go home, Dugan. Try to rest."

Duo sighed and nodded, then headed for the exit.

- -

E/N: Oh! Thanks Merlyn, lmao. I couldn't get the image of a guy on a bike holding newspapers out of my head, hehehe...thanks for the reviews, guys...they make me happy, lmao.


	7. Nonstop Mentality

**Nonstop Mentality**

"Forty-eight hours?" I echoed Relena, studying my cigarette and feeling somewhat helpless. "I don't know if I can pull that off."

"Then Dugan'll be moving far far away," Relena shrugged very slightly. "I mean…there's only so much any of us can do, and I should note that Dugan had to talk pretty damn quick to keep himself _present_ for those forty-eight hours."

"Do you _have_ to call him Dugan?"

"What else _would_ I call him?" she asked curiously. "Call him Duey? Maybe Duckling?"

I gave her a look.

"What you think is what you say, Wufei," she reminded me. "And I suggest you think Dugan Scott."

"I guess," I agreed dubiously, looking out over the city below us. Relena's rank had gotten us a private dining area with a small balcony. It was cold, about forty-five degrees…well, I was freezing, but she was only a bit chill. "I need a reason for them to head back to Brazil."

"I'm sorry," she muttered dryly. "This isn't a video game, you can't hit X and O in the right pattern to get the magical answer rolling across your screen."

"X and O are hugs and kissed," I noted sardonically, giving her a look. "There are _shapes_ in video games, and they don't scroll the answers across the screen."

She gave _me_ a look.

"I meant for you to help me _think_ of something," I snapped.

"Tell him his mistress is pregnant."

We both turned to look at the geisha…had I mentioned it was a tea house? Must've slipped my mind, my bad.

"They live in the middle of the _Amazon Jungle_," Relena muttered dryly. "I don't think he _has_ a mistress."

She shrugged. "It was a thought."

"It can't be a contact from back there," I noted. "He's the one in charge, so he could just order them to do what needed done without having to go back—and there's nothing serious going on there, ever."

"Tell him you're leaving him?" the geisha suggested happily.

"Are you actually _trying_, or just offering amusing background?" I demanded, studying her.

She laughed at that, moving to slide between me and the rail, taking my cigarette and inhaling. "You need to make the situation here irrelevant," she noted, exhaling over my ear.

Okay, so she had my attention…

"What's he doing here?" Relena added. "He didn't find Dugan, did he?"

"No. I was playing hide'n'seek with Trowa since I left," I looked back to the representative. "It would have been fine, but the day I went to talk to Hilde was the day the cameras caught me."

"He found you because you brought Hilde pizza?" Relena demanded in disbelief.

"It wasn't even a bribe!" I agreed irritably, pulling away from miss smoke-stealer. "I just wanted to make her happy because I hadn't seen her in forever."

Relena sniggered at that.

"Karma _hates_ me!"

"Must've done something petty last life," the geisha noted, placing the cigarette between my lips.

I inhaled as I thought about that…then noted she was wearing peach lip gloss…

"So…what? They came running to collect you?"

I focused on Relena again, wanting to roll my eyes and deciding against it. The only reason the conversation was annoying me now was because my attention was being snaked away by the chick in the kimono. Not great work ethic… How did anyone get _anything_ done in a tea house? Or did they not do anything? I'd never really studied Ancient Japan.

"Trowa was trying to find me. As soon as he realized where I was he packed up the trick-bag and came to join me."

"So…they've found you, you can go back?"

"Except that I think he saw Dugan," I muttered as the geisha took the cigarette back from me. "So he'll want to show him to…_him_."

"Ooh, code names, my cue to be a hostess," the geisha noted, smiling up at me. "Sake, Mr. Chang?"

I nodded at her.

"I thought you'd like it here," Relena noted, grinning after the woman.

"Funny, _funny_ woman," I muttered dryly.

"Why would Trowa want Heero to find Dugan?"

"I don't know," I muttered, turning back to the railing and staring straight down as vertigo hit. "He doesn't have _reasons_ for what he does."

"Everyone has a reason for what they do," Relena noted, moving closer to me. "You smoke because of stress, Heero beat Duo because of unresolved emotional issues…Hilde's in charge because she can't keep her nose out of things…there are _reasons_ for everything."

"Does boredom count?"

"I'm serious, Fei," she protested.

I hadn't been called 'Fei' in a long time. I grinned slightly at her. "So am I."

"Are you done needing names, or should I pretend to be doing something?" the geisha chick asked curiously, moving to the door.

I grinned at her.

"You won't repeat what we say, right?" Relena asked curiously.

"I'm honor-bound not to," she agreed, moving to pass me a cup in that very personal fashion that really was quite distracting.

"Listen, I don't think he's gotten laid in a few months, so I'd appreciate it if you'd _stop_ doing that while we're talking."

I gave Relena a look as the woman laughed delightedly and lounged back against the bar to look between us. "Just go back," she suggested. "You can leave again later, right? Load the posse up for branding, let'em lick their wounds at home."

"You like…mixed twenty metaphors," Relena noted to her.

She grinned at that, taking the sake cup and sipping from it as she met my eyes again.  
"You know, you're really distracting me," I muttered, taking it back.

"Yes, dear, that's my job," she muttered with a grin. "Granted, I like you, but…"

"Oh my god, Juki," Relena muttered, "you can ask him on a date later, shit."

The chick laughed more.

"You know each other?" I asked blankly.

"Juki-san is my personal assistant from time to time," Relena agreed dryly. "She won't come work _with_ me unless she doesn't have anything going on here."

"Ah…"

"I'm paying you special attention," she noted.

I choked slightly on my drink, looking away from both women as Juki laughed a naughty little laugh.

"_Any_way," Relena muttered in amusement. "You have to get rid of them."

"Ooh, I know!"

Relena and I both looked back to the woman expectantly, though I noted Relena's expression was along the lines of resigned.

"What?" I asked warily.

Juki's smile was beatific. "Fire them."

- -

I was tired as I knocked on the door to the other guy's room, but I needed to get them out of London before something stupid happened and Heero found Duo.

Trowa opened it and blinked at my bag, then met my eyes.

"You're fired," I informed him, half stumbling into the room.

"What?" Heero asked blankly.

"Cute…geisha chick," I muttered, losing my balance some.

So I'd had some to drink…

"Geisha chick? Are you hallucinating?" Quatre demanded blankly.

"Tea house…dinner," I returned, though this had more to do with laziness than lack of words. I tossed my bag into the closet area and stumbled over to drop beside Quatre on the bed.

"What?" Heero asked.

"Relena invited me to supper," I returned, turning my head enough so my mouth wasn't covered. "We ate at a tea house."

"With some geisha chick that made you fire Trowa?"

I started laughing at that. "It sounds funnier when _you_ say it…"

"Shit, Wufei, how much did you _drink_?" Quatre muttered. "You smell like a distillery."

"I don't know…got too wasted to care. You gonna freak out if I puke on you?"

"Don't be disgusting," Heero muttered. "Why do you have your bag?"

"I only _had_ my room until today, and this room sleeps five," I retorted. "If we're staying here, I'm staying with you."

"Why would we stay here?" Heero asked blankly.

"To find Duo," Quatre chirped.

"Why would Duo be in _London_?" I repeated my earlier question, blinking at him.

"Ask Trowa," Quatre muttered.

Okay, he was having a lucid evening.

Heero and I looked to Trowa.

"I think he's here," Trowa snapped. "I think it _was_ him you saw on the vid, and I think that's why Wufei even _came_ to London."

"Wufei?" Heero asked, focusing on me.

I laughed at both of them. It was exactly what I was doing and they were both a couple of idiots.

Heero looked to Trowa, raising an eyebrow.

"I _saw_ Duo," Trowa agreed.

I guffawed again.

See, this would be the part of that fun house where you'd gotten out of the maze, and everyone was running around in front of the squished-and-stretched mirrors acting stupid and loving it. This was the part before the slide and the spinning tunnel out…I'd already been out on the balcony part, so the ride was almost over.

"You saw Duo?" Heero asked in a quiet sort of concerned voice.

"Yeah, here…with Wufei."

"Wufei?" Heero asked.

"You're smokin' crack," I noted, sitting up to meet Trowa's eyes. "You remember the part where Heero beat the _shit_ out of him?"

"I did _not_!" Heero protested—the tone was the childish refusal of confusion and consternation.

"You _did_, asshole," I muttered, looking up to him. "You beat him like he was your bitch and he ran _away_ from you."

Heero stared at me, sitting straighter.

"Quatre's fucking _nuts_," I added, then pointed at Trowa. "And you're a bastard! Nothing but a bastard!"

"I'm not nuts," Quatre muttered in an almost childish voice.

"You need psychological help," I retorted, rising somewhat unsteadily to my feet. "You all do…"

"And what about you?" Trowa asked dryly. "You're normal?"

"No, asshole," I retorted directly back to his face. "I'm _not_ normal, and I don't pretend to _be_ normal, and I sure as hell wouldn't _play_ like I don't have post-traumatic-stress or grieving issues…but my stuff doesn't make me act like a hyperactive three-year-old on steroids."

Trowa guffawed.

I stumbled into the bathroom, leaning against the wall as something told me I should probably sit down…and started to puke.

- -

E/N: hehe, thanks Acid, you just made my day, lmao.


	8. Echo Spreading

**Echo Spreading**

I blinked open my eyes slowly, closing them again and wishing I hadn't woken up.

Alcohol could be _really_ fun…but there was this point where you should _stop_ letting the pretty kimono chick pour you sake…and you definitely shouldn't run back to your hotel quick-like before the last of the alcohol hit your blood stream.

Hangovers are hell.

I stumbled from where I'd been laying, nearly falling on the second bed. Quatre was curled up, watching me…and Heero opened his eyes to look at me. I had to wonder why _Trowa_ had ended up sharing the bed I was in…

And then it didn't matter, because I'd been drunk enough to puke before passing out, so I was puking again.

I barely made it to the bathroom in time…and the fact that with alcohol pukes you couldn't _stop_ long enough to get your breath, I was made fairly miserable. The whole situation leads to a very **_bad_** few minutes…and then the taste.

There was a reason people preached moderation, and I'd probably be doing it for the next damn month…or six.

I spit a few times into the toilet, flushing it and looking away from the sickening mess. I didn't think I had anything _left_ to throw up, but that didn't stop me from feeling ill. I needed water…and a shower.

I felt like _shit_.

See, this was warranted karma. I'd _decided_ to drink that much sake, even though I knew better…

It said something to me that no one got up to check on me.

Another issue about drinking that much was the big black hole that settled around throwing all my crap into my bag and waking up in the bed. I could _sorta_ remember heading into the room, and I knew I'd said some shit to them that I really shouldn't have…but not much more than that.

It only took me a few minutes after puking to brush my teeth—which also included a trip into the main room that was only marked by scared and sad blue eyes.

What had I said to Quatre?

My shower didn't take long, and when I was dressed again, I leaned against the counter. My stomach was still roiling, and I felt very much like not moving ever again…

"Let's go home," I muttered, moving to drop on the end of the bed.

Quatre turned his face away from me into his pillow, but Heero was staring at the ceiling.

"Come on," I repeated. "He's not here, I fucking looked."

"You're lying," Trowa informed me.

No shit?

"Trowa," I muttered, "I couldn't _find_ him. I looked."

"I saw you walk into the lobby with him. I saw him turn and walk off. I saw you holding a software bag."

"And I met up with a friend I made last time I was with Hilde," I noted, turning to look at him. "It was his damn game, and he left because she told us you lot were here."

"Why wouldn't he meet us?" Heero asked in a dead tone.

"Because I came here to get _away_," I noted.

"You're moving," Quatre reminded me. "You're going to live here."

"I never said that," I informed him pointedly.

"You did…and then you were mean to me…you hate me, don't you?"

"I don't hate you," I muttered, dropping back on the bed. "I hate Trowa," I added, moving to put my head on the pillow and look across the gap at the blond.

He hit me in the arm.

"And me?" Heero asked.

"What's got you so morose?" I demanded, looking toward him.

"Maybe the fact that you and Relena have both attacked him now," Trowa retorted.

"You can't _really_ call me on being drunk," I noted. "And I was damn drunk."

"You and Relena both," Heero snapped, sitting up to look at me with hurt eyes. He was in one of his vulnerable states right now. "You both said…"

"That you beat him?" I asked, studying him seriously. "Are you going to refute it? Are you going to look me in the eye sand tell me Duo didn't run away because you terrified him? I've been _looking_ for two years, Heero. He's gone. He's completely _gone_."

"Except the part where he was with you in the lobby," Trowa noted.

I turned my head to look at _him_. "Why are you doing this to them? Why are you telling them these things?"

"You haven't once told me I was lying," he noted pointedly. "You haven't once said I wasn't telling the truth."

"I don't _need_ to," I agreed…and it wasn't a lie. I could tell the truth and _still_ mislead them.

"I didn't _expect_ anything of him!" Heero half-shouted at us. "I never…he didn't have to do _anything_!"

"Then why did you beat the _shit_ out of him?" I demanded, turning my head to look at him again.

He stared at me helplessly, obviously wanting to protest before sliding out of the bed and stumbling across the room. He took a moment to slide his shoes on…and the door slammed behind him.

"He didn't grab a key," Trowa noted. "Wanna lock him out?"

"You're so _mean_!" Quatre exclaimed, jumping off the bed himself. He was stumbling like a drunkard, too, and I got the definite impression that he hadn't slept at all. The door slammed, and I heard him calling to Heero.

"We should lock them both out," Trowa noted vindictively to me.

He pissed me off so _bad_…

I turned on him, pinning him to the mattress as I stared into his eyes, holding him by the throat.

"You think your pretty little speech is going to mean anything?" he whispered at me. "You think that he'll accept he's in the wrong and move on? Are you really that stupid, Wufei?" He smirked at me. "And what will you explain this away as?"

"Oh, I can come up with a reason," I noted. "What's your point in all this?"

"Why, to find a lost friend, of course," he returned. "What's _your_ motivation?" His voice was darkly suggestive.

"To get away from _you_," I returned, trying to fight a sneer. "If not for your machinations, they'd have both gotten help by now," I whispered. "If not for your contrivances, they'd have gotten help years ago."

"Am I supposed to care?" he returned in that same whisper.

"Sadly, yes," I noted, climbing off of him and dropping on my spot.

"I should kill you in your sleep."

"Don't give me ideas, Trowa," I muttered darkly.

"Why _are_ you lying so blatantly about Duo?"

"Duo's not here, Trowa," I noted, curling into the pillow. "What time is it, anyway?"

"Nine."

I had about twenty-nine hours and fifty-five minutes to get them out of London.

- -

He knew better, of course, he knew with them…with _him_ in London, he shouldn't be waltzing around like a carefree local…he knew that they had an unhappy ability to _track_ any quarry…case in point, Wufei showing up almost on his doorstep. He knew that Hilde would probably have an apoplectic fit if she realized he was doing it…but it was hard to sit around his apartment when there were errands to be run before the kids got home from school.

Plus the stress.

Duo rubbed at the back of his neck as he headed back toward his car. The cheapest way of doing these things was to park somewhere free…say, the little coffee shop…and walk or take the mass transit systems. Duo had issues with _that_ many people in _that_ closed a space…

It was ten-thirty, and Duo had already paid the phone bill, and electric bill. He could have done it automated, but he had this…problem…with these guys who could _hack_…

He crammed his hands deeper into his pockets, letting his thoughts drift. He'd managed to sleep that night, but it'd been troubled sleep with hints of nightmares. Little things like knowing he'd done something that would piss Heero off…or sitting through a rant that he couldn't argue against. There were flickers at the edge of it of a fear, and fighting…and that thing he called Shinigami…

He'd woken up late, and felt like he hadn't slept more than an hour.

There was an intense fear gnarled in his stomach, and it kept exploding into adrenaline when he remembered how angry Heero would get, and how bad it would hurt…and how no one had intervened. That helplessness that came with not knowing the language, and not knowing _where_ he was…that fear of the floods.

He missed the rain, really…those monsoon downpours. Over the past two years he'd enjoyed the rains, but they didn't have that same…protection…quality to them that he associated with the Amazon basin flooding…

He shook his head, glancing down an alley to his left. It was something he'd always done and would always do. The whole…don't leave an enemy behind you mentality that had been hammered into him to keep _alive_. The alley was empty, but when he glanced the way he was going, he stopped completely.

Heero was staring at him. Right directly at him with no expression.

Duo ran.

- -

"Where the hell _are_ they?" Trowa demanded irritably, pacing to the door and back again. "Why aren't they back yet?"

"Shut-up," I repeated for the fiftieth time. I couldn't bring myself to worry that Heero and Quatre had disappeared, because it wasn't like I'd ever be able to _lose_ them. They'd show up when I least wanted them to, so waiting for them to come back would do nothing but keep them away longer.

Or…I just didn't care…whichever.

"No, come on…Quatre shouldn't be out alone with Heero," Trowa muttered, pressing a knuckle to his lips. "They play off each other and you know as well as I do that we have to distract them from doing violence."

"Watch out," I warned sardonically. "You sound like you care."

"_Damn_ it, Wufei," he half-shouted. "What the fuck is wrong with you?"

"I've lived with _you_ too long," I retorted, moving the arm I'd had covering my eyes to look at the man, then drop the thing back down for the darkness again.

Trowa tsked in disgust, then stormed out the door.

- -

One of the annoying tendencies of some of the London alleyways was their nice habit of ending abruptly. The other bit was not knowing where he was or where he was going once he got into the labyrinth. He'd been skirting a border area that was mixed residential and business, and the nice alleys of these places were beyond his knowledge.

He stopped, hissing curses at the bricks, hitting the wall…but then he could hear the footsteps behind him and turned.

"Why were you running?" Heero demanded, his chest heaving slightly as he moved closer.

"Stay away from me," Duo ordered, backing off more. He wasn't putting his back to the wall in this close a corridor. "Stay the fuck away from me."

Heero stopped, staring at him. "_What?_"

Duo's heart was hammering in his chest as he tried to find a way _out_…

The expression in Heero's eyes suddenly became horrified…very wide, anyway. He shied back a step, looking away as he started to shake his head, but it changed that quickly to the anger. He stormed forward, shoving Duo. "I'm not _like_ that!"

The fear snapped…the anger and frustration…the helplessness snapped as Duo's mind noted that he _needed_ to pick up Camden from daycare…what would Vasu say about this? What would Nas do?

Heero was saying something else, but the words weren't registering as anything…the approach would have had him whimpering before, waiting for the pain, but this time it was an attack.

He swung.

The pair of them fell into the fight like it'd been intended all along. They were snarling and shouting curses at each other as they went, and it didn't take long for Duo to lose track of which was blood and which was sweat…or spit. His knuckles felt slick, and he knew that as soon as the adrenaline tapered off he'd be in an extreme amount of pain as he slammed against one wall.

"…expecting _anything_…" Heero was shouting, but the words slipped away into that same void as Duo attacked again and slammed Heero into the far wall…

…sirens.

"Freeze!"

Did officers actually shout that? Really?

Duo stumbled backwards a few steps, losing his balance and falling onto his rear as Heero, who was also on the ground, looked down toward the end of the alley at the flashing lights of the cop-car…and the officer holding a gun.

"Sergeant Dugan Scott," Duo snapped at him, taking out his wallet and tossing it toward the man. "Put the weapon away."

- -

"Hello?" Trowa muttered, moving from the bathroom as I uncovered my eyes to look at him again. He hadn't had anywhere to go when he'd stormed out, and when he'd been able to come back in without his key he'd sort've given me a sheepish look before resuming his pacing. He blinked, listening. "I'm sorry? Dugan Scott?"

I sat up, staring at him.

"The hospital?" he asked, glancing at me. "Shit…when? Half hour…uh-huh…all right. Thanks for calling…I guess…oh…okay…yeah…bye." He met my eyes again.

"What's going on?" I demanded.

"He's not here, huh?" Trowa asked scathingly. "Funny thing…I've never heard of Dugan Scott, but you sure as hell have, haven't you?"

"My friend I was visiting," I agreed through clenched teeth.

"Well, it seems he and Heero just had an all-out brawl in a back alley and are both being held at the hospital."

I stared at him.

"I knew I saw him."

"I knew you saw him, too," I retorted, rising to grab a shirt and moving to pull my shoes on. "I knew you knew he was here, and I knew that's why you drug them all over here. Tell me, do you feel better now? I've been called out on my lie. You get your way."

"Don't be an ass," he snapped in annoyance, moving to grab his wallet.

"Are they all right?" I snapped, wondering.

"Fuckin' not here," Trowa grumbled irritably, heading toward the door. "Sorry I didn't use the right _name_!" He slammed it in my face.

If I wasn't so worried about Duo, I would have locked him out.

- -

"I'm done," Duo muttered, storming into the ambassador's office. "Take me off the list."

"What?" the guy asked, then rising to his feet. "Are you okay?"

"I'm not hiding form him anymore," Duo snapped. "I'm not uprooting my family to run like a rat to his hole…I'm not doing this anymore."

The guy stared at him, connecting some things in his mind—including that he'd seen the group Maxwell had been hiding from at the meeting. He studied Duo's blackened eye and various obvious wounds for a long moment before nodding and dropping back into his char. "As long as you're sure?"

"I'm not hiding anymore," Duo agreed, dropping into his seat and rubbing at his face. "Jesus…Nassaiya's going to kill me…"

- -

I studied Duo over with a feeling of regret…seeing his bruises brought back memories of a helplessness I'd hated beyond belief my entire life…like Leixiang touching up makeup over her obviously bruised eye and telling me not to worry, that she was fine…that it had been an accident…when I knew full well that it was her husband. It was like the first time I'd seen the bruises on Duo and he'd muttered that it wasn't a problem, that he and Heero had just had a disagreement…that he had been going to leave the group but it was okay now…like looking Natalie in the eye and asking if she wanted to leave.

I didn't know Natalie, though. I didn't know if she was adverse to Heero's attentions or not.

"I ended the sanctuary," Duo noted, rubbing at his eye.

"I figured," I agreed, stopping near him. "You okay?"

"I'm fine…the boys are sorta scared, though."

I looked away.

"Hey, it's not your bad," he muttered, moving closer. "It's better this way, really."

"I brought him here."

"It's better this way," he repeated, looking uncertain a moment. "I…I don't…it's done, Wufei."

I nodded, looking away as that processed. It was like…the call had been the order to take the slide. The call to Trowa had been Leixiang telling me it was time to leave, so we needed to go down the slide…and that bizarre moment when I'd asked the nurses where Duo was…where Dugan was, and they'd said he'd gone and been the stop at the end when people hadn't been smart enough to move out of the way.

"Where's Quatre?" Trowa demanded as he and Hero moved from the hospital room and looked around. The guy favored Duo with a curious look before focusing on Heero again. "Where was he?"

"He was at the hotel last I saw him," Heero snapped, looking angry and ignoring Duo entirely. "I told him to go back to the room."

Trowa stared at him in horror before turning to look at me.

…and this would be that spinning tunnel that no matter who you were, you'd fall in before reaching that final exit…

"What?" Heero snapped, looking between us. "You leave him there?"

"He never came back," I muttered, starting to move in Trowa's direction as Duo gave me a sharp look.

Trowa ran…and I followed him.

**_End_**

- -

E/N: hehe, sometimes I feel evil. Stay tuned for "Nocturnal State" and the race to find Quatre...sorry about the delay of updating, folks...


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